Bears go cold in 43-29 loss at Weirton Madonna

January 27, 2013

WEIRTON - The Madonna girls basketball team may be young, but it showed a great deal of poise in dealing Oak Glen a 43-29 loss Saturday at Bill Barrett Gymnasium.

"Every coach goes through pregame stuff, and we've gotten a little away from X's and O's and it's more we're looking for girls who want to compete, we're looking for hustle plays, and and we're looking for smart plays," said Madonna coach Don Ogden. "Today we didn't get that every possession, but I'm real proud of them defensively.

"They came after it, they hustled, we saw some hustle plays, and they competed. I'm satisfied with their effort. It was a good win, we needed the win, and I'm pleased with how they played."

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The Lady Blue Dons, who played impressive defense throughout Saturday's contest, looked to be in trouble as the surging Lady Golden Bears cut a seven-point halftime lead to 23-22 late in the third quarter.

Madonna responded by scoring 20 of the game's final 27 points to put away the 14-point victory.

"What it says is volumes because one game ago we would of put our head in the sand, and we would have decompensated," said Ogden. "This game we stayed the storm, or the tide, or whatever you want to call it and persevered. It was a good win."

A pair of Blue Dons' free throws made the score 25-22 with 1:36 left in the third quarter. Then, with seconds remaining, Isabella Rosso gave Madonna momentum it didn't relinquish with a three-pointer that put the score at 28-22 heading into the fourth.

The lead was pushed to 33-22 before a Casey Patterson free throw gave Oak Glen its first point of the final stanza. The Golden Bears received a three-pointer each from Logan Andrews and Karly Wiley late, but the Madonna lead remained double-digits the rest of the way.

"We just couldn't make any buckets," said Oak Glen coach Scott Wiley. "We had a lot of shots in the paint, we just couldn't make them. They played pretty good defense on us so it was tough to get it in there."

Nicolette Sellitti led the Blue Dons' fourth quarter run with seven of her game-high 11 points. Monica Bragg added five of her nine points.

Defense was the key to the Blue Dons' win as they held the visitors to just 10 first half points. They also allowed just seven in the fourth - six coming after the game was securely in Madonna's grasp.

"Again we just couldn't hit any shots," said Wiley. "We were trying to get it inside and couldn't. Our guys were trying to get it in there to our post players and couldn't.

"They played great defense. Their guards really gave us some pressure and distracted us. You'll have that. We've had a nice little run here, and we just couldnt get the ball in the hole tonight."

Cameron Dowiak chipped in with nine points to join Sellitti and Bragg as Madonna's top scorers.

Jessica Stivason led the Golden Bears with 10 points. Wiley, Andrews, and Patterson each scored five.

Both teams take to the court Monday with Madonna hosting Toronto and Oak Glen welcoming Steubenville Catholic Central for a 7 p.m. varsity only tilt.